now, the battles begin in earnest tomorrow when the house is expected to vote on the debt ceiling bill and when secretary of state hillary clinton will face some tough questions from congressional committees when she appears before them to talk about the terrorist attack in benghazi. brian? >> kristen welker on the white house north lawn tonight, thanks. >>> late word tonight that top u.s. commander in afghanistan, general john allen, has been cleared of engaging in any inappropriate behavior regarding his e-mail exchanges with the woman from tampa, jill kelley. this case came to light originally as part of the petraeus affair. and an investigation was launched. >>> the u.s. state department confirms today three americans were indeed killed during that four-day hostage standoff in algeria. seven americans were able to make it out safely. the algerian government says in all, 38 hostages of different nationalities and 29 islamic militants died in the standoff. five people are still unaccounted for. >>> in this country, the weather is making news tonight, specifically the cold. over two-t